In the 2022/23 academic year, 47% of students finished their studies in nominal time at Tallinn University of Technology. The proportion of dropouts was slightly over 24 per cent among first-year students. According to Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs Hendrik Voll, graduation rate is one of the most important measurable performance indicators for both the university and the state.

It is also important for partner universities, however, its monitoring varies. According to Anders Bjarklev, the general quality principle at the Technical University of Denmark, which he governs, is to optimise and develop degree studies to the highest international level. “We don't have a specific figure we're aiming for, but nobody likes large dropout numbers. We constantly strive for better in all our processes and addressing dropouts is a joint effort and challenge for everyone at the university," he says and adds: "The Ministry looks at these things carefully, probably in every country politicians like people to finish university quickly so they can start working and contribute to society."

"We do have KPIs, but in a very informal way," says Paul Koenraad about Eindhoven University of Technology and he explains: “I discuss the dropout rate and the average length of studies with each head of programme every year and if we see problems, we talk about them and expect better results next year.” However, university funding is linked to the graduation rate.

Riga University of Technology, governed by Tālis Juhna, is the first university in Latvia after the recent reforms, whose financing is linked to key performance indicators, or KPIs and the graduation rate is agreed with the Ministry, just like we have in Tallinn. What happens if targets are not met? "This is a very interesting question. The appendix to the agreement states that this affects funding," says Juhna.

Where does money for food come from and how much beer to drink?

TalTech's statistics show that most dropouts occur in the first year of studies, and this is the case everywhere. Even more, the aim is to make sure that the students understand as soon as possible whether this university and the curriculum are for them or not. The sooner this happens, the less it takes up their time and the university's resources. "Sometimes we are criticised by the Ministry that the withdrawals occur early. I don't understand it, because it is not beneficial for anyone that dropouts stay at university longer," says Anders Bjarklev. "As a public university, we have an obligation to use money as responsibly as possible, as well as our own money, and this is a waste of money," he says.

But what makes students quit their studies? According to Juhna, in Riga, the risk is highest in the first two semesters, due to mathematics and physics and colleagues being in agreement. Koenraad says that at the beginning of bachelor's studies, the reason is a combination of "I don't like it" and "I can't do it" and then the students usually move on to either another curriculum or a different type of education.

There are a larger number of reasons, however, and the four men name quite a few. The introductory courses which help students get started can be too short. The pace is either too fast or too slow for some. The speciality does not seem to be as expected. Feeling lonely, poor living and economic conditions and other personal reasons are significant as well. Surprisingly, a study from a few years ago found that feeling stuck can also be caused by an especially large or too small amount of beer. We can laugh, but this is probably not about the alcohol, but about the importance of social life, communication and support network and relaxation in students’ free time.

One major reason that puts studies to the background is work. This is so, firstly, the grants do not cover the students' living costs and secondly, because the industries are in dire need of labour. So, if in the first year students drop out due to physics and mathematics, from the second year onwards, working takes its toll. Voll notes that TalTech is the only technical university in Estonia and we cannot provide enough graduates to the industries, though they need employees. "We don't have a social contract with companies not to overload students with work, so when they work full-time and get a good salary, they fall behind in their studies," says Voll.

When asked how many of the students work, Tālis Juhna says: "I don't know exactly, but I think too many," and the others nod. According to Bjarklev, more than half of the students of the Technical University of Denmark do part-time paid work in their speciality for about 12 hours a week. Koenraad also thinks that most of the students have small jobs in addition to their studies, and to keep the students close, the university itself offers them suitable jobs. Hendrik Voll can say that according to a recent survey, 66% of our students are working. "This is too high an indicator, we would prefer them to focus on their studies," the Vice-Rector shakes his head.

The main suspect on the labour market is, of course, the IT sector, where there is a shortage of workers in all countries and students are quickly recruited to work in companies. Bjarklev talks about a newly introduced industrial education solution in Denmark, which would give students the opportunity to study longer, studying part-time and working part-time, half and half. The results of the reform will be seen after a few years.

According to Voll, a good and sufficient study grant system is the first thing that keeps students at university instead of going to work and things are not great in this regard in Estonia, same in Latvia. Here, students get a EUR 100 scholarship for good grades, which is clearly not enough to live on, plus a EUR 200 subsistence allowance for those with parents who are not able to contribute. In Latvia, anyone can apply for a EUR 100 scholarship. In Denmark, however, firstly, there is a student scholarship and secondly, an affordable student loan. The scholarship is 6800 Danish kroons (over EUR 900) per month for those who do not live in their parents' home and the student loan is about 3500 kroons (approx. EUR 400) per month.

Thus, Tallinn and Riga universities are looking for ways to support students by themselves. Juhna cites, for example, the opportunity to choose an innovation course, where students work on complex problems and can choose whether to receive credits or a scholarship. Hendrik Voll, however, can be proud of our Development Fund, where companies contribute to supporting active students. "If the government can't get the study grant system off the ground, the industries come to our aid since they need educated engineers," says Voll. Last year, the amount of the Development Fund's scholarships was nearly half a million euros in total.

A big difference is also evident when looking at the labour market and levels of study. Talis Juhna points out that it is difficult for Riga University of Technology to get students to enrol in master's studies due to the high demand at the labour market. Hendrik Voll mentions that the Estonian system of occupational qualification standards motivates civil engineers at least to acquire a more comprehensive education, since they cannot do much on the labour market without a master's degree. According to Paul Koenraad, however, bachelor's education in the Netherlands is rather a matter of image, which shows that a person has come into contact with higher education and the lion's share of bachelor's graduates do not go to work, but continue in master's studies and of those, only 5% drop out.

Universities' approaches to this are different as well. Thus, at Riga University of Technology, the idea of ​​combining study levels is floating around: if students entered master's studies in the first year of university, it would help to ensure that they would leave the university only after master's degree. In the Netherlands, they are going in the exact opposite direction: traditionally, students started with a bachelor's degree at one university and completed their master's degree there as well, but 12 years ago the study levels were separated and now students have to finish the bachelor's degree and then start with the master's studies, just like here. "It gives more options and flexibility. But it is still very rare to stop studying and go to work after a bachelor's degree," notes Koenraad. Hendrik Voll presents the third path chosen by TalTech: one-year master's programmes and micro-degree programmes that can be combined with degree studies. "Education is changing all the time," Voll sums up.

What should we monitor, how should we intervene?

However, not everyone who becomes part of the dropout statistics actually leaves university: for example, students start in science but move to engineering and although they graduate as engineers, they are viewed as dropouts in science. Because of the GDPR legislation, we just don't always know that they are the same people.

Not everyone who has a hard time at university needs to give up, and universities encourage and support everyone who are willing to study. In all four universities, students are provided with the opportunity for personal counselling by psychologists, other students and heads of programmes, there are tutors, mentors and study groups, information sessions and courses on studying and time planning and many other things that may help. Bjarklev talks about the "student’s starting test for studies," which is not a rigorous test to check knowledge, but a webinar supporting planning studies, in which each participant must prepare a study plan suitable for them.

Paul Koenraad says that besides many "soft" measures, there is only one "strong" one in Eindhoven: compulsory study counselling at the end of the first year of the bachelor's studies for those who have gained at least 30 out of 60 credits. Those who have not achieved this must leave. "Negotiations are currently underway because the students have said that 30 ECTS means too much stress and the minister plans to reduce it to 20. Based on the data and analysis, all universities say that this would only postpone stress, since we are bringing people to the second academic year who have not progressed enough," explains the Vice-Rector of Master's Studies. He adds that there is also a difficult exam in doctoral studies after the first 9 months of study to screen out those who are "the right material to continue".

All universities use Power BI tools to monitor student progress. For example, Eindhoven's statistics show that female students complete the master's programme a few months faster than males and foreign students are motivated to graduate faster than local students. This data is general and non-personalised; the student and their supervisor can go to the individual level and see the grades and progress of a particular person. "I can see the number of participants and the average result of each course; information on the workload and the quality of study materials emerge from the survey, and if I see too many "red" indicators in a course, I turn to the head of the programme, who discusses this with the lecturers," Koenraad explains the usual work process.

In Eindhoven, each faculty and curriculum has its own goals and the interview system makes the heads of the programmes monitor why students fall behind or drop out; students are included in the feedback circle as well. "Two years ago, we found out that more and more lecturers were assigning independent work during one semester, which became too many for the students," Koenraad gives a concrete example. He stresses that conversations and a personal, active approach have worked best in Eindhoven to reduce dropout rates and study completion times.

In both Tallinn and Riga, faculties are motivated to reach their goals with funding as well – you fall below the benchmark, you get less, you exceed expectations, you get a bonus. The Vice-Rector of Eindhoven's Master's Studies also concludes that if the student’s study period in the programme is prolonged or there is a high dropout rate, funding suffers and the Dean and Rector are not satisfied. However, Bjarklev reiterates that funding at the Technical University of Denmark is negotiated, not formula-based. In the case of formula-based money allocation, the Rector sees the danger of "optimising" the work and prioritising those activities which bring more money. "We're an engineering school and we know that if engineers know anything at all, it's the optimisation."

* The percentage of graduates who graduate in the nominal time is the percentage of those who graduated within the nominal duration of the curriculum plus one or two years. Two years are added to curricula with a nominal duration of at least 8 semesters, one year to shorter ones.